A lot of companies try to show how serious they are in developing their headphones, but all those efforts really mean nothing if they don’t have a successful product to show. Even though Philips have been involved in the audio industry for a while (making vacuum tube radios and inventing the CD among others) and also make plenty of consumer headphones, they’re quite new in the high end headphone business. Still their effort doesn’t embarrass, and when I reviewed their first Fidelio headphone, the Fidelio L1, last year, it definitely was a headphone that set a standard for the new generation $300 price bracket portable headphones.

What the L1 did to other $300 headphones (i.e making them look bad), the L2 is now doing to the L1. It’s true that there is a slight change in styling direction as the new L2 with the gunmetal and orange color combination somehow pulls off a more modern look while still being very classy, making the L1 look very old and outdated next to it. Comfort factor is also leaps better as the L2 easily matches and on my head is even more comfortable than the class-leading Sony MDR-1R. But on top of all of these, what I consider the biggest achievement, is the improvement in the sound department. Meet the second best headphone driver within the $1K bracket. And I would easily say the best if not for the Sennheiser HD700 being priced at $999.95. Yes, the L2’s driver is so ahead of the competitor that I highly rate it ahead of the Sennheiser Momentum, Sony MDR-1R, B&O H6, ATH’s ESW-11, ES-10, or even the famed Sennheiser HD650/600 line.

While I wouldn’t go as far as Mike in saying the L2 driver is the 2nd best driver within the $1K bracket I have to admit it is really good. We received these samples when we were visiting Philips in September and I’ve been using the semi-open L2 daily from that point on, and that means a lot. I even took it with me to the non-official European Canjam in Essen where I was the only one with the L2 as even Philips didn’t have it with them. To this day I don’t think the L2 is for sale yet in most parts of the world, price in the US will be $299 while we in Europe can already buy it for €280 right now.

Everyone, and I’m not just saying that, who I gave the L2 to for a while loved it. Not one single person didn’t like the sound signature and the looks. So not only did Philips achieve making a great sounding driver but they managed to incorporate it in a gorgeous design with an eye for comfort (347gr) . To be honest I do have two comfort/look issues with these headphones. First of all, Philips still hasn’t learned to use changeable ear pads which is a shame really, but they took note of that point of critic in our meeting and so I hope that will change in the future. Second is that when you have been using it as much as I have and for longer periods, the headband starts to hurt on the top of your head. Do note that we’re talking at least 4 to 5 hours of straight listening without even taking it of. I like my music, what can I say. People with big ears however will find the cups on the small side, it didn’t bother me too much, but they’re no Sennheiser comfort wise.

In short, not only did Philips develop one hell of a driver, it looks great and like Mike said it can easily compete with headphones like our beloved Sennheiser HD6X0 and Hifiman HE-400. I wouldn’t go that far in saying it’s a HE-500 or HD700 competitor but it’s getting close, especially for that price. One remarkable thing though is that while Philips with the Fidelio line has been targeting the better quality headphone and sound, they are still displaying their headphones under the accessories category on my local Philips website. Something I don’t find logic at all, but hey, details, right?

The L2 is a semi open design, houses 40mm drivers and has a removable cable and while it surely has a bunch of other features, we care especially about its sound. Back to you Mike.

Well, L is trying to stay away from controversy hence his statement “I wouldn’t go as far as Mike in saying the L2 driver is the 2nd best driver within the $1K bracket bla bla bla” but I’m here to tell the results of my evaluation, so I’m going to keep going. Just kidding, L, but not the part about how high I rank the L2 driver. It’s cleaner than the HD650/K701/DT880/RS1 generation of drivers. The sound is extremely clean, zero grain, one of the blackest background I’ve heard (think Fostex TH900 level black background — ahead of all the other dynamic drivers). In a way it’s very clear and clean sounding like say the Hifiman HE-6/HE-500 but the L2 is smoother than them and is MUCH easier to drive. I can drive the L2 direct from an Altmann Tera which usually only has enough power to drive a Koss Portapro, Sennheiser PX100 and IEMs. While the sound stage is not overly wide (narrower than the Beyer DT880, for instance) it has an extremely deep depth (and sound stage depth is always much harder to achieve than width) even with simple rigs like out of an Astell & Kern AK100 or again, the Altmann. So you get the sense of space, three dimensionality, the black background, all those good things, without having to spend $2K on an amp the way you need for say a Senn HD650. Also, while the Hifimans are extremely spacious and airy, the soundstage depth has always been weak even on the best rig I’ve listened them on, not to add that the Hifimans can only dream about the sort of black background and center image the L2 pulls so effortlessly. This is a world class driver and had they developed a flagship-class housing around it, a lot of $1K headphones better be prepared to get their ass kicked.

Of course Mike and myself talked about this difference in opinion and I see what he means. The L2 right out of the box is great, no amp needed. The HE-500 can of course, on several points, be better than the L2 but you will need a top DAC and a good matching amp for the HE-500 to sound its best. And that’s where Philips got it right: the L2 achieves (almost) the same level and you don’t even need a big and expensive setup to get there. But then again, the L2 was made as a portable headphone, and the HE-500 was developed to be used in a full sized desktop system. But anyhow, that’s how I translate Mike when he says the L2 takes on the HE-500.

On the tonality side, I love the mid range on the L2. It has an extremely smooth, organic, full mid range that reminds me of the limited edition Audio Technica W2002 flagship headphone. It’s as if you’ve permanently attached a 300B or 45 vacuum tube to the drivers. Extremely clear mid range that’s full bodied, analog, and smooth. One of the best in the industry. The bass also follows the same smooth yet clear tonality as the mid range, full bodied, though doesn’t hit as hard as I would’ve liked (say Vmoda M100, Aedle VK-1, or Senn HD650 level) but still more potent than Sony’s MDR-1R. The treble is where my love and hate relationship happens on the L2. The L2 may not have a hot-recording proof tonality the way the Vmoda M100 is, but it’s definitely far from a bright headphone with proper recordings. I would’ve enjoyed less quantity on the treble, but that’s just my dark loving ears. Since Philips is targeting the L2 for the mainstream crowd, I think they’ve set the treble just the right amount. Though I do think that the mainstream crowd would appreciate a harder hitting bass.

I think Mike described the sound part correctly. The mid section is absolutely stunning, smooth and slightly warm and I do agree on the bass part. It could hit a little harder but as I’m mostly using my headphones with an amp, even on the go, it’s making it less audible. Personally I can appreciate the extended treble of the L2 (I acquired that preference over the years), and as a result I can’t see any direct flaws in how it sounds.

Now, I need to make a note of distinction that a great driver doesn’t necessarily translate to a great headphone. Take the Sennheiser HD800 for instance, still the most resolving driver in the world, and yet not a very musical experience. The L2 is very warm, full bodied, and musical, far from the HD800. However, the fact that I’m praising the drivers as 2nd best below $1K after the HD700 doesn’t mean that I’m discounting the other headphones as being inferior. Ultimately, a lot of factors come to mind. Bass impact is pretty important and that’s one area that I think the L2 can be better. Tonality is also another thing, depending on your music preference, some headphone works better than the other. Also while I rank the Fidelio L2 as having a better driver than say a Hifiman HE-500, there is no discounting the impressive wow factor of the wide open sound of the Hifiman. Another example is the Shure SRH1540 that I recently auditioned in the Tokyo Headphone Festival. While it’s an impressive headphone and overall also a great headphone, again the driver quality of the L2 is simply a class ahead. Yet, I’m not saying that overall as a headphone, the L2 is better than the 1540. So, please keep that differentiation in mind. Still, the L2 is not a driver first, musicality second. It’s a very musical headphone, and I’ve gotten a lot of VERY positive impressions from the local enthusiasts who’s had the chance to audition it. It’s just that when I talk about the drivers, the ranking is a bit different than the headphone as a whole.

Now, with a driver quality that high, hows the requirement on the source and recording? The good news is that the L2 is not as demanding as the HD800 or HD700, though still more demanding than the HD650, LCD-2, or Hifiman HE500/6. In a practical terms, those words mean that it runs good from a portable source, but please use something better than an IPod or a smartphone. The Fiio X3 and Ibasso DX50 would be good, though the AK100 would be more ideal. Those of you fortunate enough to get the Altmann Tera before the $2000 price update, try using it with the L2. I find the combination extremely sweet.

You can of course fall back to the ipod + Cypherlabs or any other iDevice but then we’re talking big budget for a sub $300 headphone. That however is how I prefer using it, owning the setup already. Just don’t get this kind of setup for the L2 and take Mike’s advice.

Recordings, the L2 is not pop-music friendly. Though it doesn’t demand Chesky/Stockfish level recordings. The average Jazz recordings would do. Please avoid recordings with hot trebles like Jpop for instance. Overall, the okay bass impact makes the L2 more limited to the slower and more relaxed music types that don’t require strong beat reproduction. Its a more mature headphone, if I can make a rough generalization. And the bass is why the L2 is not going to take over the Vmoda M100 as the king of portable headphone, despite having a genius driver inside it. In many ways it works good for the music that Grados, Staxes and Hifimans work well with. Its not a HD25-1 replacement and definitely not a Vmoda M100 replacement. But talking driver quality, I don’t think any of the other high end portable headphones can compete with it. Momentum, Sony 1R, ESW-11, B&O H6, etc. And I actually sell the Momentum, Sony, and the Audio Technica on my store! Of course given the positive impressions the local enthusiasts had over the L2, I am considering selling it as well, but I still don’t know if we’ll be able to get those headphones from the distributor.

My musical preferences are somewhat different from Mike’s and I never listen to Jpop, Kpop or hardly any popular TOP 40 music for that matter that’s been released after Y2K. To me rock, metal, classic, dance, jazz and even old school hip hop all sound extremely nice on this headphone. It’s price/quality ratio is very good. So where do I put Philips’s latest release? Personally I find it better than the Sennheiser Momentum, the H6, the P7, Aedle VK-1 and the Vmodas. To me it competes directly with the also very easy to drive HE-400 and it probably even has that one beat too. I follow Mike in his HD650 and HE-500 reasoning (needing quality amps ) so we can only conclude that Philips has created a competitor killer with the L2.

We’re fans!

All the R&D work done by the Philips team certainly have paid off. I couldn’t be more impressed, and I hope that the fact that Philips sent me on a sponsored trip to their iLab facility doesn’t discount the fact that this is such a phenomenal headphone and even more a phenomenal driver that the Philips team have created.

Besides the L2, Philips also released a Bluetooth version of their M1 headphone, a unit we reviewed already in January. Review on the next page!

Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

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432 Comments

John123John

First Post! “Meet the second best headphone driver within the $1K bracket. ” and at $299 MSRP? Music to a reader’s ears! 🙂 🙂 Well, looks like I found my next headphone. There are so many in that price range, its nice that the L2 sticks out. We don’t get this kind of recommendation or exciement from you (mike) unless its a $5000 headphone amp like the WA5 or Studio6~

Question about the driver. What does it mean? Like I know what a headphone driver is but are you using drivers as an analogy for technicalities? Sorry if I missed it in the review~

Comment on the format. Is there anyway you could do like alternating black and blue font or maybe bold and normal? As I did get mixed up a few times on who was talking but maybe that’s just me. Also I love the double review format but realized this review was a bit different from others. Here, both reviewers actively refer back to the other’s review and kind of counter each other which I thought was bit of weird. That’s just me being picky and annoying, others probably like it because you address each other and directly fill in the gaps on certain topics. In any case, GREAT REVIEW!

John123John

One a side note, I am so impressed with the Philips Fidelio line. Seems like every headphone they produce is a winner, a great bang for buck and a “dethroners”. (may contain exaggeration). Kind of amazing. Reminds me of Hifiman and maybe Audeze.

Yeah I am truly excited about this one. True on the comment about expensive amps too haha.

Drivers and technicalities, I guess you can see them in roughly the same term in this article, but there are some differences. For instance, the L2 is very easy to drive aka very sensitive. Usually its easy to make a high performing driver if you don’t need to make it sensitive. The fact that the L2 is very sensitive and still very high performing earns extra points for its driver, but this is not something that I’d consider superior technicalities.

But in a lot of aspects you can see the driver performance being synonymous with technicalities.

George Lai

Sigh – another headphone I’ll never consider as the ear cups are again on the small side. I gave away my L1 solely for that reason. The other thing they got wrong on the L1 was that the headband was disproportionately heavy. You always get the feeling they were going to flop forwards or backwards. The L2 looks better proportionately. Ah well, my wallet thanks you.

Hariadi Mastoyo

From what I remember K550 is more neutral and analytic. This one is warmer, bass is bigger. overall to me the better one. The L2 will be here to stay, the K550 won’t be talked about in a few years imho

longbowbbs

I think the design is a bit different in that the 650 is a reference full size, though old, and the L2 is a high quality semi portable.

I do think that as an overall headphone, the 650 is pretty hard to beat and the L2 is not going to take over its place soon. The way the 650 does bass is still unmatched and that’s why I mentioned that better driver doesn’t automatically translate to better headphone

John123John

George Lai

Though I find it odd that a large MNC like Philips would take so long to make the product available worldwide. You can expect that of, say, MrSpeakers but not Philips. I recall the Fidelio X1 and how long Americans were craving for it. By the time the L2 is available everywhere, we’d be talking of an L3.

George Lai

Thanks Mike. But to be serious, large companies like Philips sometimes forget that in today’s interconnected world and the ease of online shopping, the efficiency of world-class couriers etc, they have to get their act right. They’re lucky in that unlike say the movie industry, piracy is not such a rife problem (Beats being the exception but … Yucks). The smaller setups – MrSpeakers, Audeze, Cypher Labs, ALO, Centrance et al – understand and take advantage of this. Their products are available worldwide – it’s just a question of whether the shipping cost is reasonable (most are) and whether the local distributor’s margins are reasonable (if they’re obscene, people buy online and pay the shipping cost). Buying online is a cinch and usually with this hobby of ours, the products are fault-free. Returns for faulty products are usually easy too.

I think the problem is actually partly due to the fact that they are such a huge company with so many products. For the smaller companies its easy to start an online shop. Not so if you’re Philips, you need to go through all the different distributors and for the distributor, a new headphone may not be such a big deal.

George Lai

Although people like Sony manage it well. But I take your point. Some large companies appoint large distributors because they also sell their mainstream headphones to supermarkets etc and the salesmen would rather sell a few hundred to a supermarket than, say, 10 to one specialist headphone shop.

Another point is while Sony’s product all falls conveniently in the Electronics section (a store can sell nothing but Sony product and not be out of place). Philips has a wider range from light bulbs, kitchen, laundry, TV, phones, to audio. So that’s another challenge.

Elie Hendriks

That would be so awesome.. I love those guys! And I’m from Belgium so they’re available everywhere here. I bought my X1 in a retail shop for 230€.. That’s a steal imho. Also, you forgot one -1000$ staple, the LCD-2. You think it has a better driver than the LCD-2?

Sam

Wow, the last time both of you were raving over headphones was during the release of the DT770 pro 88th Anniversary edition. It sounds like this headphone is wayy better other than perhaps the bass impact part? Also, I sure hope L can assure me it doesn’t overtake my T90 :O

Sam

I’m currently using the Apex Peak with the Sylvania Brown Base tube. Dac is the Yulong DA8 (Hopefully you guys can get your hands on that!). I think it does make the T90 shine, you think so? To me, the set-up sounds excellent across most genres although the treble is a little hot on some. I guess I’m one of those who feel that the T90 has a little treble peak, and I’ve already tried to pick a tube that tames it down as much as possible. Apparently the Peak isnt very “tube-sounding” haha Still, Mike has tempted me with his ultra-glowing review. You reckon I should give the L2 a shot as a side-step/upgrade? Or should I just wait for the next big thing? Really wanted to try the HD 700 though.

Sam

I don’t know how good the T90 sounds on that set up. It’s possible that your combo strikes a perfect synergy just like how I was blown away with a certain Beyer T1 set up the other day. Without the super set up, however, I think the T90 is just okay and I’d take the L2 over it. On your set up, of course, I can’t say if the L2 will be better. Why not upgrade to the T1? It should be a safer upgrade IMO, having the same/similar Beyer sound characteristic. The HD700 is good but again, if your set up is great with the T90, may make more sense to go with the T1.

Sam

ohoh… too late, just clicked the buy button, like literally 10 minutes ago XD It’s ok, it’s not too expensive & I’m also very curious about the headphone, will update u guys how it compares with the T90 with my set-up. Even if it doesn’t scale up as well, I’m sure I will be able to find some use to it since it’s more portable and has low-amplification needs. Definitely agree the T1 is a more natural upgrade, but I guess I will stay put for now and wait for THE-next-big flagship update. It has been quite a while hasn’t it? Hopefully by sometime next year? heh

Carl A

Nice to finally read something concrete about the L2. I was starting to wonder at the impact it had made on all you folks as nothing had appeared on here, Head-Fi or InnerFidelity … Firstly, I enjoyed the conversational, to-and-fro style of this review; it was quite a refreshing change from the normal style reviews one reads. For practical reasons I understand why this might not appear that often, but it certainly is different, entertaining and interesting. Also, this reads very fluently. One wouldn’t easily be aware that english is not the native language of you guys. I do not mean to intimate by that comment that previous writings have not been good! Just that there have been the odd comments from folks about grammar etc and I noticed as I was reading this that it read very nicely – then that made me notice just how smoothly it flowed as a piece of writing, and just how well it worked with the two of you almost following each others observations as you went. The review: I was struck by the amount of emphasis given to the driver in this review. It felt as though I was almost reading a review of a headphone driver! To the extent that I was beginning to wonder if so much attention was being given to the driver because it was possibly felt that the headphone itself was lacking in some way. I understand I’m almost certainly reading something into nothing, but still, it just felt odd in some way, the continued driver-talk. I do realize that Mike made the point more than once that driver quality didn’t automatically indicate headphone quality, but in a way it was that that made me start to wonder: is there an underlying message here … Also, the comment about it being suited to slower, calmer music and music that is not strongly about beat reproduction really concerned me! Only because I was thinking of the L2 as a possible ‘phone for myself(can’t afford the H6, as I feel I’d need to budget in a decent amp to complement it)and for my father(to supplement and improve upon)with his MDR-1R. Although I listen now to classical and like slower-paced stuff, a good part of my listening is fast, upbeat, powerful music and my father likes his 60’s and 70’s rock.

I know Lieven balanced Mike’s comments somewhat with his music-listening thoughts, but I still came away from this wondering if I should keep my focus on the M100 possibly. Perhaps I was just buying into the pre-review build-up and ‘hype’ around the L2 a little too much, and almost thinking it was going to be an all-things-to-all-people headphone, at least in its budget category. Anyway, I was not meaning to come across as critical in any way of the review, just wanting to give a little feedback as to how I came away from it, what I was thinking etc

Also, the non-removable pads: how much of an ‘issue’ is that? I still read the odd comment here and there about folks bothered by the X1’s not having replaceable pads. Accidents can happen …. I find it slightly mystifying that when they go to such lengths to stress to you guys just how much thought and research goes into their headphones, that they still make them with pads that cannot be replaced. As usual I think I’ve written too much so I’ll stop there. Thankyou both for yet another illuminating and entertaining piece of writing. Be well.

Thank you for this constructive comment. I appreciate it. Also thanks for saying our reviews do read well, it’s quite frustrating reading stuff on headfi about us. The weird thing is we can say the L2 rocks and they will bash us, but as soon Jude or Tyll will say the same, and they will, everyone will start saying the L2 rocks. Even those who never heard the L2 or the number of headphones we have for that matter. So thank you!

The pads can’t be removed but they’re of good quality. It’s only an issue once they get worn off after a lot of use or after an accident. I’m sure Philips’s next headphone will have replaceable pads.

Finally, I personally don’t really feel this headphone only does slower music, sure other are faster but that doesn’t mean this one is bad. I think our review shows this is an overall very good unit.

George Lai

Guys, I wouldn’t be too concerned about head-fi.org as it is a forum and like everything else, there is good and there is bad there, and one should read it and form one’s own conclusions. Strangely though I find it amusing to read head-fi.org as it is amazing to read the incredulity that’s spewed by some people there. It is like you read serious newspapers and you also read the gossip tabloids for some amusement. The problem with our hobby is that it’s relatively affordable so anyone could buy, say, a Koss KSC-75 (and no offense is meant to this headphone – I have a pair too) and suddenly the buyer feels he is entitled to wax lyrical about it, hearing things that aren’t there! Like having fries at MacDonald’s then going on and on about the potatoes industry, the inconsistency in texture, shape, color, etc of each fry in the packet, the fact it shouldn’t cost so much since potatoes are cheap and how MacDonald’s is ripping everyone off. And on and on and on. Our hobby would be a poorer place without Headfonia.

George Lai

This dual-style review is like two good friends, Mike and Lieven, having a chat in a coffee shop. They agree on some points they disagree on some, like all friends do anyway. We, the readers, are on the adjoining table, and in a civilized society, we’d say “excuse me, guys, but I couldn’t help over-hearing. When you said …” And in this civilized society, Mike and Lieven would ask you and your friends to pull up a chair and join them.

Thanks George! This review just happened. Mike started the draft and I continued after I read it. I think it’s important for the reader to get the 2 different views. Mike and me agree but we have different ways of saying things. I think that gives the reader a pretty good “view” of the headphone.

dalethorn

I’d prefer to read the much denser (info-wise) reviews and comments here, rather than wade through thousands of pages of chat on that “just another forum”. And that’s nothing against them, it just points up some of the special value of this forum, to get to the point much quicker.

Carl A

You know, all these folks who find it so very easy to write about & criticize you guys or Headfonia in general – all it does is speak to their character(or lack thereof)and not of terribly valid thoughts or constructive observations. So yeah it must be frustrating but, water off a duck’s back is perhaps one way of dealing with it, followed by a smile.

dalethorn

The no-BS focus on facts here gets this site good respect. Anyone can criticize that, but they’re missing out. Reporting on the current technology is like being on a really fast roller-coaster – you just hang on and try not to fall off (like those critics).

Thanks for the comments Carl. You made it sounds like the article is better than it really is hahaha.

I think I can clarify a bit on why I talked so much about the driver.

I think the driver is phenomenal and naturally that’s why I spent so much time on it.

The headphone, however, is also a great headphone because otherwise I really wouldn’t enjoy listening to it and the people who’s listened to it at my store wouldn’t give it the praises they gave.

However I realize that the majority of music being played these days are either: very hot on the treble — won’t translate well to the L2, or needing strong beats — again not the L2 forte.

The L2 has good bass, just not strong or punchy enough for a lot of modern music. It’s definitely better than the Shure SRH1840 for instance (dalethorn is talking about the Shure’s weak bass on the comments section this week http://headfonia.com/q-a-2012-2/#comment-1105876981 ).. I did mention this to the Philips team and so I hope they can improve the bass impact though I don’t know if they’ll implement the suggestion.

If the music is right, and there are a lot of music that sounds right on the L2, it’s far more impressive than the Vmoda M100 which I praise so much or the popular MDR 1R or all the other headphones it’s competing against. It doesn’t have the M100 genre bandwith which is why I think the M100 is still the safest one to recommend, but it’s not an extremely polarizing headphone either. Generally I’d take the L2 over the 1R, Momentum, or the H6.

So, I think it’s a great headphone.. it’s just doesn’t have the genre bandwith that the M100 has and so I wanted to be careful in promoting the headphone alone.. someone who doesn’t have a clue about recordings may buy the L2, plug it to his music and to discover that the headphone sounds very bright when the fault is in the recording. And that happens A LOT in this hobby.

Carl A

Many thanks for your further comments – really appreciate both you and L taking the time to respond at length with further thoughts. Your comments above help me a little more, but it sure is difficult knowing what to think when there are so many interesting ‘phones out there and yet one cannot get to try them! Aedle, V-Moda, Philips, B&O …. interesting new units like the Focal Pro and Classic, the Onkyo(which interests me as Tyll favourable reviewed it and crucially for me at least, it is not yet another ‘phone automatically released at some high price point between £180 – £330 – which at least in the models I’ve handled, is way, way too much)and others besides! Anyway, I digress. Thanks again for taking the time, both of you, to put so much of your time into responding to comments and queries; I think you both know how much we all appreciate it. Be well.

NN.

Nice write up L. and Mike.. really worth the wait. Have been looking around for a portable headphone for a while, and I hit the purchase button right after I finished reading the review. Does the L2 pair well with C5 or do you have any other portable amp recommendations?

NN.

I have received the L2 and oooh this thing does not disappoint.. I’m currently running it through the violectric v200, cannot seem to put it off my head lol. It seriously does well at every genre I throw at it… I’M IMPRESSED !! 😉 cheers L.

NN.

Dave Ulrich

In terms of size and features (like a rechargable battery) the 71a has been outdated for awhile. It is still suppose to sound very nice. I recall Mike calling the RSA Intruder the successor to the 71a. Spacious, hard hitting bass and all that. It also can go fully balanced, has a USB dac built in, and retails for $250 more than the Blackbird.

Outdated yes… My favourite amp but I hate the fact that the battery is non rechargeable. Thing is I haven’t found another amp that does bass like it. I love Ray’s new Intruder. One of the best amp in the market today but even though the bass is good on the Intruder, the SR71a still hits harder.

Kartoffelmao

Thanks for the review!

I was wondering what will be the best to buy; Fidelio X1 or Fidelio L2? This is considering the two headphones goes for the same price in my country, Norway.

I really like detailed headphones with strong treble. My favorite headphone to date is Shure SRH940. I use an AKG K701 right now since the headband got broken on my Shure SRH940. The K701 has a nice natural sound, but too laid back with an exaggerated soundstage IMO. I have been hearing great stuff about the Fidelio X1, but i dont know what will be best to go for between the L2 and X1 from Philips.

Kartoffelmao

Is the X2 even confirmed to be in the works?

I have owned Grado RS 2i, but sold them. Too groovy bass overshadowing the details. I have yet to try Beyerdynamic headphones and have been considering the DT990 before i decided i wanted the Philips X1 rather after reading some reports on the DT990. Closed headphones is not my thing, since everyone ive tried reproduce a very closed in type of sound that dont sound natural. Open and semi-closed headphones is the only alternative for me.

Carl A

Mike, how do think the L2 would match up with the Apex Glacier? Just wondrin’!

For some reason, ever since reading your review of the Glacier it stuck in my mind. Seem to remember that it is very neutral & revealing and so needs to be partnered with care and with a view to recording quality. But also that it really comes into its own when partnered with higher quality equipment, so was thinking how would it do with the L2’s driver quality etc …

It scales up, and say on the Studio Six I like the L2 better than the HD650, so it definitely scales up. However I don’t think it scales up as well as the usual flagships I use on the ST6 which is like the HD800, LCD-3, TH900 etc.

George Lai

Listening to the L2 right now (borrowed from Mike himself). Big-eared people like me, please stay away. And the driver housing itself has 3 little pegs that stick out, and over time as the ear pads thin out a bit, they may bite into the ears. I don’t know what those 3 pegs are. As they are Mike’s headphones, I didn’t rip off the earpads to find out! Sounds good though but comfort ranks higher than sound quality for me. It could be perfect for other people I grant you that.

Jon Choivo

Alpha dog to me is the best closed headphone around, better than the Fostex 900, the L2 isn’t quite there yet. I’ll let Mike reply about the VK1 as I haven’t listened to it for more than 5 minutes but for me the L2>VK1

Dave Ulrich

John123John

While I’m very excited about the Alpha Dog, I don’t think it can take on the flagship closed like the LCD-XC or the TH900. The Alpha however doesn’t need a serious set up. The TH900 is extremely demanding.

Driver quality, the L2. With the right music, I think the L2 shines. Midrange quality, soundstage depth, black background, etc, those are all unmatched by the Aedle or the Alpha Dog. Even considering the Alpha is planar!

However ultimately it all depends on the music. The aedle sounds the least spacious but the bass impact and the body is just very addictive. It’s like a portable HD650 with closed back. The L2 is very clean, spacious and a ver sweet midrange bloom, almost like a baby Audio Technica W3000ANV, W2002, or a baby Fostex TH900. The Alpha, being a planar, is very special as well. It’s a bit like the LCD-2’s sound signature. Less bass impact than the 2, less spacious, but more snappy and more nimble.

dalethorn

Here’s my thought: If a person were listening to somewhat dark music, perhaps even some jazz that has a lot of upright bass or other mid-to-lower freq. sounds, the P7 can start to sound muddy or boomy to an unpleasant degree. So I’d suggest users think about the type of music they listen to so they don’t double-up the mid-upper bass boominess etc. Or, if they buy the P7 anyway, get an amp that tightens up the bass as much as possible. A lot of the older classic rock recordings don’t have a strong bass, and they usually play well with the P7.

Kyle

Mike and Co. I think you should really start up a youtube channel by doing in-depth reviews and unboxings. This would get you guys a lot more publicity from more people. Have a think about it. Wow, those L2’s look spectucalur and sound excellent (pun intended).

John123John

Nik

Hello Lieven, hello Mike I followed your recommendation and I got the L2. It is truly amazing. And yet it must surely complete the burning. For mobile use, with iBasso DX50 would be an improvement over Fiio X3 or should I get to AK100? Considering that during my trips I always carry with me a MacBook Air, beyond the comfort, how it ranks, compared to the best portable players, the Air with the FiiO E17 (connected via USB or via coaxial with M2Tech hiFace Two) using Audirvana Plus as player? Thank you in advance for your valuable tips.

The X3 and DX50 are very close in terms of sound, some would prefer the X3, some the DX50. The AK is a clearer step up. The E17 is roughly at the same level as the X3. I would just get the stand alone player, I think it’s cleaner and less hassle that way.

Gg

Hello everybody,

I’ve been looking for a review about these L2 since a month and finally I’ve found not only a review, but also a review that worth the time you spend for reading it.

Saying that, I’m writing you because I really cannot decide between these cans and the P7. I like the P7 more aesthetically and I like the way they fold and that they are closed. I’ve tried them in a shop and I really like how they sound!

Your review about L2 made me in confusion since L2 seems to be a very good pair of cans…particularly if I consider the L2 are 100€ cheaper than P7.

Could you please help me in making my final decision :)? Is the fact that the L2 are semi-open a big problem for a mobile use or in the office? Do the P7 worth 100€ more than L2?

On internet it’s very easy to find articles and reviews about the P7 (and most opinions are very contrasting), but nothing about the L2..so any advice is very welcome!

Hi Luigi, between the 2 to Mike and me, there’s not much of competition. The L2 is the better over all headphone but the bass of the P7 is bigger. the P7 makes you feel like you have an airier and more open sound sound, but I think the L2 actually is better in that as well.

Gg

Thank you L.! The genre I most often listen to are rock, metal and classical…for this genre is still the L2 the best choise at its price range? Is the sound loss, due to their semi open structure, too high for using them in an office or in a train?

Marc

dalethorn

Yeah, I ordered the T51p also. I have high hopes for it. I had 2 of the 1350’s, and even though they say they’ve changed to better earpads, I don’t know. Guttenberg raved about the T51p on one of the big corporate sites.

dalethorn

I didn’t expect much, and the only real factoid there (for whatever it’s worth) was the note about a “warmer” sound than the other comparable Beyers. That little tip plus the better earpads got my order, so I’m crossing my fingers for luck.

R12wan

I found the T51p’s super comfortable! I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on the T51p. I really liked them but ultimately I wished the mids were a bit more foreword and more sennheiser momentum like.

November 17, 2013

dalethorn

I suspected that whatever would make the T51p comfortable, i.e. what would make the earpads conform quickly to the ears and effect a good bass seal, would fix the major problem with the DT1350. If the T51p sound isn’t good enough for me played flat, I’ll experiment with the simple iTunes EQ’s to see if there’s a perfect fix. I’ve found perfect fixes for a few headphones, but haven’t struck gold yet on a Beyer Tesla.

Different sound, and I still think the L2 is unbeatable if you’re looking for pure sonic qualities. The T51p is a more forward, smaller soundstage, brighter headphone. Small cup size usually means a small soundstage and the T51p is still limited by that. Tonally however the T51p is the best yet compared to the previous iterations. The L2 however is on a different level. Of course the T51p is more portable, more compact, and is closed back. L2 is semi-open.

Marc

dalethorn

Here’s an interesting comment from the Innerfidelity site: “I had my first listen to the X1 and L2 at RMAF….. I thought the L2 was a disaster; while the hella bass was tolerable and even pleasant(on electronic music), there is some funky midrange stuff going on that is hard to listen to. I just can’t imagine the L2 sounding good/natural with acoustic music of any sort (I also auditioned full-orchestra tracks). I’d really love to see the measurements on the L2 so I can make some sense of what I heard.”

breizh

Joël Bühler

Hi Mike, I’ve just bought the Sony MDR-10RBT, but they are very cheapy built… So I’m looking for other Headphones, like the Philips Fidelio M1 (with or without Bluetooth) or the Philips Fidelio L1. Wich one would you suggest me to buy? Thanks!

Joël Bühler

Joël Bühler

How big is the L2? Can you wear it around the neck? If you listen to music in the public transport, how much music do you hear and how much your neighbour? Thank you 😉

November 14, 2013

Gg

Hi Joël,

I’ve recently buyed them and I can assure it they worth every single $/€!

You can wear them very comfortably around your neck and they are smaller than you’d expect and for me they are very comfortable to wear.

Talking about isolation, that it’s not their strongest point, but I didn’t found it an issue for don’t buying them..L2 isolate better than on-ear headphones, but not so wel as a closed-back around the ear. Anyway, I can tell you I use L2 in the office and my neighbour told me he can’t hear anything but a very little when I turn high the volume. I compared L2 to Momentum and others headphones after having bought them…they are just the best (for me!) and I am very happy with them, they sound just great!

Luigi

November 15, 2013

Joël Bühler

Hey Thanks Luigi,

So I’m going to buy this awesome headphone (when it’s available in Switzerland). =)

The MA900 is one of those headphones that doesn’t wow you at first. It takes time to sink in and after playing different music you’ll realise that it works with a lot of different music and it’s nice and musical. But still at the end of the day, not a huge amount of wow factor. The L2 is very impressive, huge wow factor, impressive sound quality. You do have to choose recordings with it though.

Marc

Marc

I’ve read the other comments and that you’d suggest the RSA 71a but there’s no getting past the battery issue. The Intruder however is rather expensive. What are your thoughts on the L2 on the C5, the National, or the Continental V3? If there are any other amps you’d like to add, please do.

Domingo Martínez

R12wan

Still early days but I can already say that the mid range is AMAZING! I’ve tried Momentum’s both versions, V Moda M100, B&O H6, Custom One Pro and B&W P3 and the Philips L2 has the best mid range of them all. Base is quite good, but perhaps good be a little more impactful. I can see what you mean about the treble. So far, I would say this is the best overall sounding headphone of all the above mentioned. Hope I feel the same way after a few more hours of listening as I really don’t want to be trying any more headphones!

R12wan

R12wan

Hi Mike. After all the suggestions I received from yourself, Dale and L, you may be surprised to learn that I have eventually settled on something completely different! No doubt the L2 is a fantastic headphone but I’ve decided against it. I needed something to listen to while I work and I tried out a pair of Grado 80i’s. They were fun, open, clear and a comfortable, easy listen. At the end of the day, putting aside all the technical stuff and focusing on what you enjoy, I found these an enjoyable listen. I have also decided to pick up a pair of B&W P5’s. I think I posted in the Q & A section that i liked to P3 vocals. Well the P5’s were even better and they too were a nice listen with good base and moderate PRAT. I like a bit of base and these were good for me. I picked up a reconditioned pair so between the two headphones, I paid about the same as what a pair of L2’s would cost. Two headphones at a good price for different moods and suitable for both home listening and portable hifi. Result!

R12wan

Damn it! You were right! Grado’s did get boring and are on ebay! Keeping the B&W p5’s (middle of the road good all round) and also got cheap Amperiors (amazing PRAT) and yes I am getting the Phillips P2’s (just brilliant and for a good price). I think that covers it for all genres that i listen to.

R12wan

R12wan

By the way, i did try the P7’s. Didn’t really like them all that much – not for the price anyway. I don’t see these as a portable pair but more for home listening and the Grado’s suited me better for that purpose. Also didn’t find them all that comfortable.

breizh

Nik

Hello Mike, hello Lieven like I already wrote I got the L2 and the sound is really nice. But I have two problems with it. The lack of a little more strength in the bass (although I’m not a enthusiast of headphones with bass swollen), and its size. I find it a bit too big to carry in my bag and also to wear it for a walk. I think to try the Aedle VK-1. You have written many times that the VK-1 have more bass and this would be fine for me. I lose a lot of refinement of L2 listening to especially high-resolution files? I use Fiio X3 and E12. Not being able to see before you buy, you confirm for me (as I think) that VK-1 is smaller than the L2? How much is the diameter of the ear pads? Thank you once again for your answers and your patience.

el34han

Hello, Thank you for the great review. I am wondering how does the L2 compare to the Plilips X1. I mostly listen to classical and opera. Also enjoy pop jazz. Amp is La Figario 336c. Have a HD580 and looking to buy Philips X1. Appreciate your view, or anybody’s .

Joe Ramos

Mike and Lieven, thanks for the great review! Long time reader, but 1st time commenting. I was hoping one or of you could tell me about the differences in bass between the M80 and the L2.

The L2 sounds like a great portable upgrade, but Mike’s comments about bass concern me. I own the M80,and find its bass just a hair more polite than what I find ideal, but great when I EQ it up a bit. How does the bass on the L2 compare, and does it take well to being EQ’d up?

Anyone else with experience with both if these headphones please feel free to chime in. Thanks!

Joe Ramos

Thanks for the feedback Mike. I thought the M-100 was going to be my portable end game based upon on what was being said about it being a circumaural version of the M-80 with a bit more bass and less polite highs. But then Val said that they were unable to replicate the sound signature due to the larger driver and difference between on ear and over ear.

Turns out that the M-100 is more a bass head headphone than an audiophile one. Not what I want. I believe that headphone bass should have some impact, because in reality, bass is visceral and dynamic. But, I still want a fairly neutral presentation. Dynamic, but neutral.

So, back to one of my original questions. How well does the L2 take to being eq’d? Do you think I’d be happiest eq’ing the L2, going with something bassier yet not over the top like the Momentum (I do like detail though), or do you genuinely believe that the M-100 is better than it’s headfi rep of being a glorified basshead can?

I don’t think you can add bass impact with EQ — the L2. I love that headphone, I just don’t think it can take up the M-100 as the all rounder headphone. I don’t think that the M100 is a glorified bass head headphone either. The beats are. At the end of the day, even in high end audio, people need good bass that’s why headphones like the HD650 are successful while “SQ” headphones like the HD800 are not so well accepted.

magi44ken

When I was there (around September?), and I told them about the need of an L2 closed-back, they didn’t seem like they’ve even considered making one. So I made the suggestion and they were open and said that they would consider it.

Anton

While I love the TH900, I really have never been that impressed with the 600. I don’t know if it’s the driver or the housing, but at the end it’s a very so-so headphone. I don’t know, maybe the driver is good (I am not sure if the 600 uses the same driver as the 900), but the overall sound of the headphone sort of masks whatever good the driver may have.

Robert

So is this Headphone considered a mobile one, to use on the go with a mobile player or a smart phone? Or is it intended to be a home use product? I ask because you compare the drivers with HD650 and DT880 which are home use and then compare the headphone itself with the M100 which is a mobile.

I’m currently using a K530 which was good for me, but I missed the bass a little, and am currently searching for an replacement in the <500€ (considered T90)area. And this review sound like this L2 would be the best solution for a lot of people because of the second best driver thing…

Mobile and home. But for mobile, it doesn’t fold up. I’d say it’s more home. The driver quality is really good but that doesn’t mean it’s the better headphone. to me it’s not better than the T90 but you need a good, preferably, tube amp for it while the L2 plays good out of everything. that’s what makes this driver so special

Robert

Could you recommend an amp? Preferably with a DAC because I will mostly use the headphone with a Macbook Pro and ALAC coded files. Are there DAC/Amp combinations out there that also have a microphone in? Thinking about a Modmic extension to use the headphone for music while playing and chatting via teamspeak. If possible I would love to pay less then 900€ for the combination 🙂 THANKS in advance!

Albert

Too continue on the comparison with the K550, that is a massive reference.

How is the separation of instrument on the L2 ? And if you compare it to the K550 ? And the soundstage, is that better than the B&O H6 ? But smaller than the k550 right ? In this case if it has a smaller soundstage, a more “V shaped sound”, and not very punchy bass, how the L2 would be better than the K550 in very big (massive) orchestral piece (like tchaikovsky) ?

The K550 is very wide on the soundstage but has flat depth and lousy three dimensionality. To me that comes out as an artificial soundstage. The L2 is narrower which many would consider a weak point but ultimately with a superior three dimensionality and depth, I think it’s a much better headphone. The K550 is more v-shaped, the L2 is very full on the mids and bass.

Unfortunately to make orchestral pieces work, I still need a strong bass impact, both the L2 and K550 are not very good at. The HD650, TH900, LCD-3 are all better for me for Tchaikovsky. Of course, different class of headphones altogether.

Mr.Tingalingling

Hi Mike, Thanks for the reviews! I listen to a very wide range of genre… Classical, R&B/soul, hip-pop, pop, rock… I was debating between the momentum and M100 (leaning on the M100) and now that I have read this review… Should I wait for the L2 instead? And as for portable amp wise, do you any good (not too expensive) suggestion as a nice companion for the three headphones mentioned as well as the DT770 and HD600? Thanks!

Geoffrey Defosse

i just ordered the L2 because of you guys, i just have to say i’m a bit skeptical regarding this huge praise over the L2 on this test, so i went over several threads on internet forums and people generally tend to confirm my opinion, that this review is a over rating the L2. Nevertheless they love this headphones but the general opinion is that an old good HD600 is naturally superior to the l2.

Dave Ulrich

Geoffrey Defosse

I wasn’t wrong in my assumptions. I prefer my old HD598 over the L2. This is a fantastic ongoing headphone but i can’t find the Magic in the mids section, it’s “drier”. In my opinion all the magic in music comes from organic mids and the L2…i’m sorry to say, is not as organic than our mid-fi. Nevertheless bass is superior, hit harder, high are crisp and very well defined. Separation is almost on par, details retreival either but…guys, seriously, the L2 are like a hot blonde, highly seductive but i prefer my brunette, more deep and VISCERAL. Philips doesn’t get the visceral part of the thing and that make all the difference to me. I still don’t get the praise for the soundstage in this review, it’s flatter than my sen, less envelopping, less airy.

Tong Leang

Just received my pair today. Gotta say they are great pair of cans, going back & forth between denon d600, hd650 and the L2. The L2 does sound comparable but it might be the new toy syndrome. Well worth the admission price I would say.

Jeff

I had a listen to this with my vioelectric amp. I compared it with the LCD-2, HD650, HD600, and the Grado SR325Is. I loved the L2. It was a huge improvement from the L1.(which I don’t own but my friend lent me it) While you cannot compare it with the Grado because Grados sound so diffrerent from any other, it was as enjoyable. I am a HD650 fan so I have to say I liked the 650’s bass and overall sound. The 600 though I didn’t like compared to the L2. ( sold the 600 for $250 to a friend) Now comparing with the LCD-2, it gets very interesting. In a nutshell, LCDs are the L2s on steroids. For the money, and the impedence, L2s are amazing value.

Geoffrey Defosse

I disagree a bit. The 598’s is bigger in soundstage, more airy, the mids are more organic. The instrument separation is a little better too.

The L2 have more impact, more bass quantity, more treeble but the mids are dryer and LESS natural sounding. The general signature is more “IN YOUR FACE” than the 598’s. Perfect for rock, classical but i prefer my 598 for vocal and string music as the voices expend much more naturally than with the L2

Generally the sound seems to be more “natural” to my ears with the 598’s. Maybe less enjoyable for some genre but you can listen to them all day long without getting your ears tired. That is impossible with the L2, my ears are ringing because of the harshness in the highs after 2hours listening.

Never happened wih the sen’s.

If i had to pick one, i’d choose the L2 because of the outstanding sound of violin in classical.

dalethorn

Atte Loikkanen

Kartoffelmao

Well, i finally got the Fidelio L2 last week after a long waiting time for it to release here.

First impressions were a little underwhelming, but i liked it the more i used it. The soundstage is pretty dull, but clarity and details are very good. Not as good as Shure SRH-940 i compared with in my testing, but close. Bass is tight and with good impact (the AKG K701 sounds very anemic compared to the Fidelio L2 bass). Overall i have to say i like the sound signature of the Shure SRH-940 better, so i will return my Fidelio L2. Comfortwise the L2s are pretty bad for my head (too tight).

I did the testing with a ODAC+O2 AMP and FLAC files in WASAPI and ASIO output with Foobar2000.

I have just ordered a Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro im hoping will replace my Shure SRH-940.

Daniel James

The ODAC and O2 is audibly transparent. Whatever sound you get from them is the actual sound of your headphones… I know, it’s not always pleasing to hear the sound of the headphone you dropped hundreds of dollars on.

Raskoln

Daniel James

Simple, with measurements. Music is art, sound is science. Electronic gear like amps and DAC’s are quite easy to produce and be audibly transparent. Not so much with headphones and speakers due to variables outside of the speaker’s control.

Raskoln

dalethorn

Not so. DACs and amps have many components and the possible electronic/electrical interactions are astronomical in number. Circuits are subject to interference. Jitter is well controlled now, but not only not down to zero, it’s inherently non-linear, so you can’t make absolute certain that it’s ‘perfectly’ put to rest. Ripping a disk perfectly is usually possible because the computer can wait for corrections. Despite the ‘buffers’ used by music players, we don’t have the same guarantee of perfect playback as we do of a perfect rip – i.e. there is no CRC checksum of playback at the analog out….

A membership in one of the professional societies such as the AES will get you closer to the inside details of electronics engineering, where you can see how scary this stuff really is – the myriad ways that signals can get distorted between the digital track and the headphone jack.

Daniel James

dalethorn

It’s a great video, thanks. I know Ethan from when he was peddling custom software – very competent guy. I can’t address any of the video here, but I highly recommend it as a beginner introduction to audio. When it comes to hifi reproduction, I am frequently at odds with experts because I don’t agree with most ‘scientific’ double-blind listening tests. To keep this short I will give an analogy and then a real example: In the U.S. Army training we learned to see to an extremely limited extent in dark outdoor conditions far away from cities or any lights, by learning about “off-center” vision – i.e. don’t stare directly but look indirectly. I’ll leave you to research that. The real example for here is hearing – when I’m comparing two sounds that are one decibel or less apart, I usually can’t hear a difference. But in the context of music listening I can usually pick up on the difference readily by starting and restarting the music from a given point. But then even that gets very skewed by time of day and what I’ve been recently listening to. This is not to suggest that perception is everything – the audio differences are real and you WILL hear them whether you focus on something else or not. The question of reliability of what we hear really comes down to the amplitude, since when a sound is loud enough everyone who isn’t deaf will say “Yup – that’s a siren on an emergency vehicle”. To turn that around or back to the small differences, you do have to remember certain principles or you’ll be misled by the very experts (in the video for example) who are trying to help you. Those principles include: 1) The differences are real. 2) Training will help you identify them when they’re audible. 3) Audibility may be subliminal to some extent, but the brain still hears stuff that doesn’t register in double-blind tests.

dalethorn

I don’t want to repeat anything I’ve said or hinted at that’s arguable one way or the other, but I do want to stress that the people in the video are to a large extent addressing what they have defined as not real, rather than focusing solely on what is real but *may* or may not be audible depending on the amplitude. So as a first order of business, if you can’t separate the two phenomena here and in the video, it’s going to make things difficult.

Patrick Michael Graf Murray

With the DT990 pro you get more sharpness in the treble than you do with the premium and or the Dt880s. Now I happen to like the DT990s, but I just did not care for the ODAC o2 combo with them, I like the ODAC with the Vali, and really any tube hybrid I had tried with the 990s. Also if you like and prefer solid state then there are warmer amps out their that I think you would benefit more with your new phones. Let me know how it goes, because every one’s ear prefers different types of sound. You may be happy with the setup, also you can try to eq if you do not.

Kartoffelmao

Havent tried tube amps, so wouldnt really know. ODAC+O2 is my first external dac+amp. Ive been happy with DT990 for while now, allthough they have a very sharp treble as you say. It can be a problem on some songs and also a little fatigueing.

Last week i got the SONY MDR-MA900 and it sounds surprisingly similar to the DT990, but not as intimate sounding and without the sibliance. Its much more suitable for longterm listening both comfortwise and soundwise. I may actually like better than the DT990. Looks to be a very neutral headphone according to this:http://en.goldenears.net/14492

Nik

Hi Nik, I haven’t tried another cable yet. while you can of course expects a light difference in sound, I think it will only be minimal with the L2. I would opt for a copper based cable, certainly no silver as it doesn’t need to be more clear etc

Krelianx X

kameenadesi

you guys really gotta hear the JVC SZ2000 Live Beat headphones. They have incredible synergy with the FiiO E12 Mont Blanc. I bet the drivers in the SZ2000 can be comparable to the Philips L2. Wanna try the L2 one day…

Sam Lim

How can you tell that is the second best driver under$1000??? THD is higher than other well made headphone in this price range….like NAD HP50, Focal Sprite Pro, HD25 Aluminum, ETC

impedance response shows L2 driver has electronic resonance at bass and low high. That is saying L2 has problem with damping….I have No clue how you can even say that l2 has the second best driver under $1000 =_=.

Geoffrey Defosse

No need to look at graphics to tell the l2 is not AT ALL on the same league as the big boys such as the He-500, LCD 2 ans so on, there is a workd of difference. When i go back to the L2 from my He 500 i feel the l2 so lacking in everything. It’s like going from a Oled big screen feed with blu ray to a mere 55cm old television with DVD. This review is just a big joke.

It’s been a while since I read the review, but I read it again now, and there’s enough detail in the text to explain clearly what you get for $300. I had the L1, but not the L2 as yet, and compared to a lot of the junk that sells for $300, the L2 should be a pretty good deal for the price. (and I have a few $300 headphones that I wish I hadn’t bought)

Raskoln

Thanks L, & where would you put the Beyer DT770s or LE version in relation to the L2? The Senns seem to my uneducated ears at their best in relation to the luxurious, laid back side of the spectrum but maybe are lacking in terms of drive & energy. My tastes are very broad so I’m not looking to specifically cover that side of things but it is part of the equation. Though to add, your mention of what you consider the L2 to go well with in the review would seem to satisfy me on that front.

Raskoln

Raskoln

Arrived today. Won’t make a fool of myself trying to make observations other than I like them and some of Underworld’s mid 90s peak years are sounding very fine but, novice that I am, I’ve a question re cable. I’d certainly appreciate having a quite-a-bit longer cable for home use than supplied 1.2m. Do I need to be looking at something specific for these phones or should I be ok with virtually any generic 3.5mm/3.5mm?

Munteanu David

Moshyo

Thanks for the review guys. How would you compare the L2 with Soundmagic HP100 which is slightly cheaper but has been reviewed to punch much above its weight? How does the soundstage compare to the HP100 and ZMF? Also, L2 is marketed as a portable but it is semi-open – how bad is the sound leakage?

dalethorn

Hi. THe HP100 is closed and the L2 is an open headphone. Sound signature is completely different because the HP100 is a very neutral headphone with very tight bass. L2 soundstage is bigger, I haven’t heard the ZMF yet but the L2 is better than the HP100 IF you need an open headphone

Tibor

Hi there. Can you help me to choose? I want to buy headphones to use on the go, I have a Meridian Explorer dac and was considering to buy Beyer T51p, but maybe those L2´s can be also a good option. Can you compare those two please? You will help me a lot. Thank You

I keep being surprised how people want to compare different types of headphones. The T51P is portable. The L2 is a full size. the Beyer is on ear, the L2 is over ear. L2 is open, T51P is closed. Sound wise both are very good but the T51P is smaller for portable. I personally enjoy the sound sig of the Beyer more but it is clear the L2 has the “better” sound

Tibor

Patrick Michael Graf Murray

Are you not an IEM kind of person? Because I was not but my situation called for it, and I ended up with the ER4PT IEM and I will say they are a fantastic portable ear phone, with my Rockbox Ipod and the C5 amp the music really does immerse you.

Nat PML

If I tell you that I love the L2, but its trebles make me uncomfortable, which headphones would you advise (I mostly listen to baroque music, and I’m especially fond of bass voices) ? (I own HD650/700, K701, L2/X1, COP, Porta Pro) Thanks for the hint !

Nat PML

Rogier Schreurs

My brother got this last week and I’ve been able to listen to it a little bit. Haven’t really come to terms with the totality of it’s sound, but one thing really stood out for me: It manages to replicate the sounds of fender guitars, Fender Rhodes piano’s and Hammond organ quite well! John Mayer and D’angelo really shine with these puppies!

Joël Bühler

He there I just bought the Fidelio L1 for (120 Swissfrancs). They sound amazing!!! I can’t imagine that the L2 sounds better… Would you also buy the L2? Or a Beyerdynamics T51p? I own: Shure SE315, Fidelio L1, Bose AE2, 2x Phonak PFE 022 and Jays…

If I had the L1, my next step might be the X1 or X2, or possibly the Beyerdynamic DT770-32 ohm. The T51p sound is way different from all of these, and I would recommend it for portable use, but not to switch back and forth between the T51p and L1 – the tonality is too different.

Joël Bühler

Patrick Michael Graf Murray

The X1 had went from 180-210 to now being 300 -260 Which is a bit of a bummer, not to say that it is not worth the 260 and what not but I know I can find a slightly used headphone that is potentially even more to my liking for less in the forums and ebay. I remember people sellig their x1 for 170 now they are sellling them for 250. I really hope the x2 delivers something special because they have a decent amount to live up too. I currently am trying out two closed models and have been comparing my own HD600. The T70p and the modded T50rp the ZMF X Vibros. To be honest the they all sound amazing, and I am kind of in the air if I want to sell one so I can try out the X2 when it is out.

I would have a hard time giving up the T70p (Tesla), the ZMF vibro (planar), or the HD600. The HD600 is a reference headphone, and the other 2 are Tesla and a planar about to become a legend. The X2 could sound better than any or all of these for the first few weeks, but eventually you’d miss these 3.

Rafael Capelo

Hi Joel, see you bought the L1 and was worried about the isolation as I’am. What did you think about it?. Do you think It would bother someone sitting next to you in the airplane or bus travel?. I’m thinking about getting the L2 that is also semi-open, but worried about this, also considering the M1 causs its closed back…

Rafael Capelo

I don’t have an actual example of leakage for the L1 that I had, but since the isolation was almost none, the leakage would be enough that you couldn’t use it in a public library at normal volume. I’ve almost never had a problem on a train or plane though, unless I’m playing very loud next to someone who’s bothered very easily.

Joël Bühler

willy vlyminck

All the superlatives are justified, I have the L2 since a week, and it is almost frightening how much better this headphone compared with the overhyped Momentum,which by the way, I wanted to like, but it just didn´t work for me, not that I am a difficult person but the main demanding I have to headphones is natural sound, when I hear a Steinway it should sound like one and not like a Fender electric piano 🙂 It have the natural smoothness of my Grado GR10, and that says a lot if not all..I did just listen to some Steven Wilson works, and was extremely pleased with what I heared and the bass is also exellent in case anyone would doubt, altough I can not speak for the kind of bass required for today´s mainstream styles, but for avant-prog rock, the bass is topnotch. Can´t wait to hear the X2 🙂

Akis

they are much more fashinable yes, but the headband starts to hurt on top of your head after a few hours. The L2 is more forward and faster sounding than the X2. I think they’re about on par for what technicalities are concerned but the X2 is a lot warmer and smoother. I like both their sound but the L2 could use some more bass. X2 is pretty perfect but it doesn’t have the WOW effect my HD650 still gives me (the Sennheiser scales a lot better)

Akis

I’d love to try the EL8’s. I do already have 3 headphones purchased from Amazon that I’m auditioning (the HD700’s, the X2’s and Momentums that I haven’t even unboxed) that I have to make a decision on soon.

It’s very difficult to do any analytical listening in a shop environment with a limited amount of time, so buying/trying/returning seems to be the best way.

I don’t want to tie-up any more money (or waste people’s time) unless there’s a good chance I will keep the headphones I now try.

I’ve already returned some Beyer T51i’s. The Momentums were meant as an alternative to the T51i’s.

There is a payoff though, in that when you combine your own experience with what you read here (and elsewhere), before you buy and after you buy, you get a pretty good feel for which headphones best represent your music – giving you I guess the most detail or experience for your money, with proper balance. For me, the P7 gives me a full-up experience somewhere near the lower end of my ideal sound, and headphones similar to the latest LCD2 at the top end. I only wish I had everything in between. But once you get a “really good” headphone you feel comfortable with, you can focus on getting the best out of it with an amp that has the right synergy. That’s the tricky part for me – I’m always surprised at the sound of any new amp I get. There are still ‘objectivist’ guys who think they all sound pretty much alike, but when you listen to enough of them with the same headphone, you eventually hit the sweet spot.

Akis

Not wishing to drag this more off topic and hoping to give something useful to other readers from my experience:

– When I plug the X2’s in and listen to ‘my music’, I am never disappointed, nothing jars, nothing detracts. They are really a great headphone. So that’s that then?

– Well not quite. The HD700, on some tracks, are clearly better – more detail, more layering, more air, more feel. But at a cost. Things now do jar in places of the track – sibilant in places, less warm, change in tempo, busier sound.

– You start to think maybe the HD700 are more accurate and that’s the way the track is recorded. The X2’s maybe are tuned to be more rose-tinted. Maybe the right small valve amp would help tint the HD700’s a little to help them with the track?!

My point is do you ever reach a satisfactory conclusion? If you buy top of the range Audeze’s, does all of your music sound comfortable to you and do you stop picking holes or looking for improvements? I’m guessing not. I’m guessing when something then jars, you blame the recording as you have ‘the best headphones’ so it can’t be their fault.

In conclusion, for me the X2’s are great everyday, wear and enjoy the music headphones. Others like the HD700’s give you more but are high maintenance. I’m thinking of sticking with the X2’s as my daily wear, whilst still trying to find Nirvana with 1 more expensive offering / amp combo.

I found a magic solution called EQ. And I don’t mean to open the Pandora’s Box on that one, but here’s the key: Just like when you restrain yourself from visiting the loan shark to buy all kinds of goodies you can’t afford, you restrain yourself from using EQ to attain perfection – you go after the most problematic sibilant frequency and let the others go. If it makes a difference (and it should) then you’re better off. You can even retune a couple of problems, not just one. Every headphone has multiple resonances and suckouts, and while the mfrs. dampen most of them pretty well, they’re not 100 percent. I’ve found that reducing the problems (not trying to be perfect) really makes the sound more natural and alive, but it takes practice.

March 17, 2015

Akis

willy vlyminck

I really like my L2, and bass is exellent, at least for my taste of music, (prog,avant-prog,)where the bass guitar is much more than only a part of the rhytm section.The headphone is a perfect partner for my FiiO X1. I am looking for an in ear that comes close to the L2 Lieven, if you have any idea, don´t hesitate… My IE80 goes in this direction, but doesn´t have the 3D sound and the space of the L2, neither is the bass so clean, My Grado GR10 is a perfect match for my iPhone/ iPod but not for the X1., so an in ear alternative for the L2 would be great.

willy vlyminck

The price is a bit beyond my budget, and following the threats of the IE800, it seems there is a lot of complaining, which is not ok for a product in this price range, altough I understand that an IEM sounding like the L2 can’t be cheap…

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the “richness” in the sound that multi drivers and crossovers add is missing in the IE800, and users who are familiar with those IEMs just won’t like the IE800.

willy vlyminck

I know, they give good service but for 700 Euro, you may expect a perfect product, There are far lesser expensive in ears, who never causes trouble, I think of the IE80, never had any issues with that, but unfortunately the bass is not so clean and 3-D as with the L2, if it is fair to compare over ears with in ears?

It is OK to compare because you and I both have the experience. So I understand. But 2 things: I don’t think the IE800 is very fragile, and I don’t think the price means it has to be rugged or perfect. But I always treated mine very carefully. If you need to just throw it into a bag etc. for convenience, then probably not a good idea. I found a tiny case for my IE800 that was very quick and convenient to put the earphone into, and also protected it. Putting it into the Sennheiser case was a time waster.

willy vlyminck

OK – that looks good. As long as you use the case when not listening you should be good. I think the reason I’ve had a few headphone cables break is because of the weight of the headphones – when a cable snags there’s a lot of weight pulling against that snag. With IEMs that shouldn’t happen unless the IEM cord is somehow immovable on one end and the other end is snagged. Of course nobody can guarantee anything.

willy vlyminck

Customs are certainly the optimal choice if you want to have sound like an over ear headphone, the only problem is that they are incredible expensive, but I will ask Nathan if he know a more down to earth solution

Gabriel Ross

L. Here in the States I was able to get a pair of L2’s from a seller in Japan. Since that time your good word about Forza, encouraged me to order a aftermarket cable. Neutrik straight 3.5 mm, with 1.5 m Quad hybrid series cable. Every thing improved of course, highs are perfect and the bass has improved. I just wanted you to know how much Headfonia, is helping me to enjoy my music collection. p.s., I D.I.Y my CD’s to windows on WAV, it seems to be a good way to go; do you agree? HFN#1. Thanks.

I always rip my CDs to bit-perfect WAVs, then make FLACs from the WAVs, then make 320k CBR MP3s from the WAVs, then toss the WAVs. When the FLACs are re-converted to WAV, they are bit-identical to the original WAV files. The MP3s go onto portable players (Apple), and a few of the WAVs go onto one Apple device for testing with DACs.

There are people who claim that the WAVs may sound slightly better than equivalent FLACs, due to the burden the player has of uncompressing the FLACs in real-time, however, even if it’s unlikely, something to be aware of.

johthor

Would you share which software you prefer to use when you rip from CDs? I actually do the same as you when ripping from my CDs. I have been using dbpoweramp but would like to know what you prefer to use. Thanks

Usually Foobar2000, with the verify turned on. Sometimes it reports errors and I may have to do the songs one by one. But I’ve also ripped to WMA with Windows Media Player, or even Mac lossless with iTunes (not recently). When I use Foobar to convert WAV to FLAC and FLAC to WAV, those conversions are not only lossless, the WAV-from-FLAC is always identical to the original WAV, just as though I did a PKZip and PKUnzip.

Haryanto Suryonoto

Rafael Capelo

Great review. I’m thinking of getting the L2 after so good opinions about it, and the cost-bennefit in my country is great. I have some concern about the isolation for travelling neightboors, since I use it a lot in airplane or bus travels. Seen some coments saying it may boder people sitting next to me, and other comments saying its ok. Even considering the M1 cause its closed back, but really wanted an over ear headphone with this quality. How would you compare the isolation of the M1 and L2? And the sound quality? It would be great to hear the opinion of the L2 owners =). Thanks

Marco Mare

What is “jpop” kpop”? Call them with their name: CRAP The majority of US “music” is pure GARBAGE and what is tragic is that the people of US is completely unaware of what REAL MUSIC is. The dumbness of so many Americans is so pathetic. (c)rap (s)hit hop du(m)bstep alternative techno punk grunge etc…all of this garbage is just noise for monkeys. Incredibly US gave birth to modern Music like rock-blues-jazz-funk-soul etc…. Nowadays music means NOISE and not harmony for too many idiots. This is like humanity is returning to the stone-age

Most people aren’t serious music lovers, they just like a melody or a beat to play in the background while they do other things. Other people – young people for example – use their ‘music’ to frame their culture, and most of them will be listening to “music of your life or era” when they’re older, just to remind them of a better time before they had to go to work, to a horrible job to support their families. The marketing people understand this, and the stuff they churn out rarely affects audiophiles. Fortunately, unlike bygone eras, we can find what we like in a lot of different internet forums – Soundcloud, whatever.

Oh, BTW – a lot of audiophiles, maybe even the majority, play their favorite music while they do other things too. Cruising the internet especially.

Marco Mare

The problem is that what some ignorant people calle “music” is NOT Music at all. The term Music do NOT means ANY possible sound,but it means that there are rules of harmony and melody to be respected,otherwise is just random noise. In order to be Music it needs REAL singers REAL musicians and REAL instruments to be used . The lack of intelligence and culture is the result of the primitive unintelligent noise that the media want us to swallow.

“Long way from home, can’t sleep at all, you know another mule is kickin’ in your stall.” — Howlin’ Wolf a.k.a. Chester Burnett, migrated from the plantations of Mississippi to urban Chicago. Same country, but two different worlds. Huge influence on Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Animals, Cream, many others.

George Lai

Indeed, Dale. It is also thought that U.S. blues were influenced by African roots.

There’s a Malian artist – Ali Faraka Toure – whose music has so many underpinnings in US blues and he has never heard US blues. When Ry Cooder, I believe, found him, he couldn’t believe the similarity.

Good reference. I have over 10 thousand blues tracks on tape from my wife’s late brother, tracing plantation blues from the 1920’s through the urban blues of the 1990’s. Similarities work both directions, interestingly enough – you hear artists of today reflecting some of the early riffs, and occasionally you even hear a few bars in a 1920’s recording that sounds amazingly modern. I have a CD by Miriam Makeba of South African “field” songs that I believe were ancestor to much of the ‘spiritual’ songs of the American plantations.

There is one problem with the reference to “primitive unintelligent noise” etc. The clues are found in language itself – for example the predecessor to English, the Indo-European, has many times the complexity of English. Navajo and other native languages here are far more complex than English, simply because the thoughts and history of the peoples were kept in the head and not generally written down. Listen to some of the pow-wow songs of American Indians, and after awhile you’ll be transported to a different level of song appreciation, or you’ll be cut off completely due to ignorance of the language and culture. If you stick it out, it will transform you, in a good way.

Anon

1. Would a Fiio X5 be a preferred pairing to a Fiio X3 II? As in would the price increase be justified? I also know the X5 II will be released soon so is it worth waiting?

2. For hip-hop would the HD650 be better suited than the L2? The laid back signature of the HD650 makes me think otherwise but then again you say the bass impact is better on the HD650 than the L2 so i’m really not sure. What do you think?

willy vlyminck

The L2 will just do great with any of the FiiO´s because it doesn´t require much power. I don´t listen to hip-hop but apart from the the L2 does really well with plenty of (sub)genres. Thx to Lieven, I did buy the L2, and I think in it´s segment it is one of the very best no matter the price. The L2 is also very beautifull made, at a level you normally find only at headphones, costing the double or triple.

Dadbeh Shaddel

Dadbeh Shaddel

oh i wasnt upset or skeptical or anything like that. I just wanted to see how they compare. also the link to this came up on your facebook and i clicked on it, i didnt realize how old it was. funny thing is, it is still hard to find one of these in the US.

I talked to Kevin the Philips guy on Facebook about whether the original M1 was going to be re-tuned for the U.S. market, since it was delayed several months after the Europe release. He stopped responding after the first question, so I’m pretty sure that was a clue to why it came out so dark it was like having no treble. Anyway, when corporations get so big they can’t communicate at all with reviewers, just because the reviewer has a sensitive question, it’s no surprise that some products fail. BTW, I paid $250 for my M1, out of pocket.

willy vlyminck

Hi Lieven, did Philips already send the M2L with lightning contact ? The reviews I did find are all very positive exept for the limited use due to the lightning contact only, but I like the idea of such compact item, where Dac/ amp is included, so all you need is your iPhone7/ iPod.

willy vlyminck

Lucas Meyer Galibier

Okay, thanks to the Headfonia’s review and much reading, i bought the L2. I would like also to thank Dale and Headfonia_L. too for guiding me about the X2 too! Wonderful surprise! The L2 had exactly what i was missing from my previous headphones, center imaging, and despite they said it could make some use of more bass, i found it nailed! It just seems to reveal what comes in the recording mastering. Bass heavy records sound very bassy for me indeed such as Deadmau5’s Imaginary friends or Matt Simons’ catch and release. They sound Very extended but not exagerated. It’s like if the L2s could reveal bass in all of it’s extension, from sub tho lower mids. It just have to be there. Another trait from them is the stage that sounds very circular, like if you were in the middle of it. Some records make me feel i’m sorta surrounded. Crappy files do suffer however, but thats natural. Thanks Headfonia!!! Next upgrade, i’ll ask you again!!!

Lucas Meyer Galibier

Dennis

Hi,Dale and L, thanks for your recommendation. I just got my L2 today. Now i am using it with my iphone 5s directly without any DAC or Amp. I don’t know whether I am making the most of the headphone, now I find it good. To me, this headphone is very clean and gentle, like a fragile girl. the sound me makes feel lonely. it’s really good time to reflect with the headphone on. the bass is indeed not as strong as my friend’s Beats. But I got it for about $120, that’s nice at the price. thanks again~

Dennis

Jorge Carvalho

Thanks to this detailed and clear review, I made my mind and bought a Fidelio L2 too. And how pleased I am. It’s my first expensive headphone and I’m glad that I managed to get a good deal (~$145). Now I’d like to ask about good DACs and AMPs to pair with it, preferably of quality noticeable above Iphone 6 and w/o costing an arm and a leg XD. Thanks Headphonia and keep the good work!

Smog

gemNeye

Way late to the L2 party, but just wanted to thank Headfonia for this informative review. I’ve been researching various headphones the past couple of months as I’ve never owned a pair costing more than $35 in all my years (mid-40’s guy here). Mostly just cheap Sony and Apple ear buds and a cheap Philips bluetooth pair.

My patience recently paid off because I just snagged a brand new L2 for $79.99 from Woot. It’ll arrive on Wednesday, June 28th so I’m anxious to experience something that even hardcore audiophiles wouldn’t be embarrassed with the L2. Needless to say I’m psyched.